SDHSAA board shifts toward reorganization plan

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A few weeks ago, I took a deep dive into the South Dakota High School Activities Association's recent vote about a Sioux Falls-backed reorganization. My story showed many of the state's small schools voted for the change -- which would have arguably benefited them, too -- while the resistance was led by the state's medium-to-large schools outside of Sioux Falls.

The reorganization would changed the board's three "divisions" of small, medium and big schools, each getting a spot on the board, into four divisions. The largest division would have comprised just Sioux Falls and Rapid City, giving Sioux Falls a much better chance of sitting on the SDHSAA board -- which it hasn't done in a very long time.

It fell just a few votes short of passage.

Today, the activities association announced the final results of two runoff elections for its board of directors -- finally completing a turnover in which a majority of the board's membership changed since it clashed with the Legislature in February.

Both members who won today, Linda Whitney of Sanborn Central and Sandy Klatt of Brandon Valley, came from schools that voted against the reorganization. But so did their runoff opponents, Mike Lodmel of Tri-Valley and James Hansen of Rapid City.

And the new board actually seems considerably more friendly to the reorganization than the old one.

Five of the eight members of the new board come from schools that voted in favor of the reorganization: Todd Trask of Wall, Rick Weber of Flandreau, Dan Whalen of Pierre, Roger Bordeaux of Todd County and Steve Morford of Spearfish. (The other three come from schools that voted no: Klatt, Whitney and Jason Uttermark of Aberdeen Central.)

In the old board, by contrast, just three of the members came from Yes schools: Weber, Whalen and Trask. Four came from No schools: Uttermark, Darren Paulson of Rapid City, Eldon Marshall of White River and Mike Miller of Aberdeen. (The final board member in February, Mike Ruth, came from Miller, which didn't vote on the reorganization.)